Page 90 of Win Big

And I nod yes.

18

WYATT

“Last day of the break,”I say the next morning. It’s nearly eleven, and we’re still in bed. “We practice tomorrow.”

“You need to practice, since you’re so fat and lazy.”

I laugh and pin her to the bed. “You calling me fat?”

“You said it yourself.”

I lean down to kiss her, enjoying her teasing, enjoying the feel of her beneath me in my bed. But I have something to tell her. Ask her? And I’m glitching a little about it. I draw back and gaze into her eyes. “Are you going to yoga class?”

“I should . . . but . . .”

“I have something I have to do today.”

“Oh. Okay.”

She thinks I’m brushing her off. “I want you to come with me.”

She blinks. “Where?”

“To see a friend of mine and her son.”

A tiny notch forms between her eyebrows. “A friend?”

“Yes. I promised I would take Owen to the zoo.”

She gazes back at me. “Okay.”

“We can stop by your place if you want to change. Heather lives on Franklin Avenue, it’s not far.”

“That would be good. My heels wouldn’t be the best for the zoo.”

Am I doing the right thing? I’ve never even told people about Heather and Owen, let alone taken anyone to meet them. I don’t really know why I’m doing it.

We stop at a café and get coffees and bagels to go, then continue on to Everly’s place. I sit at her table with my phone, sipping my coffee, while she goes upstairs to change. Again, I feel that sense of calm that her condo creates, with all the light and the fresh scent and lack of clutter.

I smile when she returns, now wearing jeans, a black-and-white-striped T-shirt, and bright red Converse sneakers. Very zoo appropriate, and yet totally pulled together and polished. That’s Everly.

She sits too, to eat her bagel. “I haven’t been to the zoo in years.”

“Owen loves it. That day we ran into you, we’d been at the aquarium. He likes that too. He’s really into animals.”

“Cool. How old is he?”

“Just turned six.” I tip my head. “The night of the Birds Banquet?”

“Yeah . . . ?”

“It was his birthday party. That’s why I was late.”

“Oh.” She sinks her teeth into her bottom lip briefly. “I was a bitch to you about that.”

“Nah, not a bitch. You were doing your job.”

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